FEMININE/MASCULINE ENDEAVOURS: A WORKSHOP ON GENDER STUDIES

This workshop on Gender Studies aims at introducing the key issues raised by gender studies in some of the academic disciplines. The explicit entry of women in the disciplines of sociology, history, philosophy, politics and aesthetics is not just geared to make women visible. Rather it endeavours to change the very assumptions of these disciplines by demonstrating the constitutive role of women and the heterogeneous aspect of gender studies.

“One is not born but becomes a woman”- Simone de Beauvoir

“We can now ask such questions as: What is a man? How do men maintain power? Is there a crisis of masculinity?” – Jeff Hearn

Women’s advent in academic and activist circles as a category also led to their awareness that they are not pre-defined essences. Since the eighties feminist academicians and activists have focused on the differences amongst women that emerge from class, caste, race and nation among other factors. Further, they have also inspired men to think of themselves in gender specific ways. Thus, feminism has not confined itself to exclusively addressing women. The rise of an explicit masculine identity reveals that though there have been pre-feminist accounts of masculinity, men have emerged as gendered beings in response to decades of feminism. Women and men are divided and allied simultaneously in debates on gender. This raises the issue of the relation between feminine and masculine identity both in the academic and activist contexts. It also provokes a debate on the very notion of identity.

In the framework of the above outline, this workshop will provide preliminary acquaintance with feminist philosophy, sociology, history and aesthetics. It will also open up debates pertaining to masculine studies.

About the Convener:

Dr. Kanchana Mahadevan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, University of Mumbai. Her areas of interest include Phenomenology, Existentialism, Post-structuralism, Critical Theory, Social-Political Philosophy and Gender Studies.